OBAMA CAMP FILES COMPLAINT OVER GROUP LINKED TO CLINTON

The Obama campaign is accusing an independent group run by supporters of Senator Clinton of breaking federal campaign finance law by failing to register as an official political committee. The campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission urging the agency to investigate what it calls a “brazen violation of the law” by the American Leadership Project, an organization known as a “527” group funded by top Clinton donors that has run ads critical of Mr. Obama. The law requires groups that solicit contributions of more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing an election to register with the commission, which the American Leadership Project has not done. A lawyer for the Obama campaign, Robert Bauer, told reporters on a conference call that the ALP was a “Swift Boat wannabe,” in reference to the 527 group that helped derail Senator Kerry’s campaign in 2004 by running ads questioning his Vietnam War record.

OBAMA, CLINTON SPLIT SUPERDELEGATE ENDORSEMENTS

Senators Obama and Clinton split a handful of superdelegate endorsements yesterday as party leaders make their decisions with increasing speed. Mr. Obama announced the backing of three members of Congress from California, Iowa, and Indiana, which his campaign hopes will send a signal that he has not been significantly damaged by the re-emergence of his former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Mrs. Clinton gained the support of the president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, Bill George, a superdelegate, as well as another superdelegate from Puerto Rico, Luisette Cabanas.

MCCAIN, CLINTON VOICE OUTRAGE OVER FORT BRAGG CONDITIONS

Senators McCain and Clinton each responded yesterday to reports of decrepit conditions at the Fort Bragg military base, with Mrs. Clinton calling for congressional hearings and Mr. McCain demanding that the Pentagon report the results of its own investigation to lawmakers. They follow an uproar created by the posting on YouTube last week of a 10-minute video that shows moldy walls, peeling paint, sewage-flooded bathrooms, and other deplorable conditions at the Korean War-era barracks. The Defense Department has already begun a probe of its barracks facilities worldwide along with starting repairs at Fort Bragg. Mr. McCain told reporters in Pennsylvania yesterday that the conditions were “unacceptable.” “It’s one of these things that is so unacceptable that it’s shocking,” he said. Mrs. Clinton yesterday released a letter she wrote to the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Levin, urging him to hold a hearing on military housing conditions.

CLINTON SUPPORTER SAYS SHE HAS ‘TESTICULAR FORTITUDE’

Senator Clinton may be running to become the first woman president, but one of her supporters believe she also has the “testicular fortitude” for the job. “I truly believe that that’s going to take an individual that has testicular fortitude,” the president of a local steelworkers union in Indiana, Paul Gipson, said while introducing Mrs. Clinton yesterday, NBC News reported. “That’s exactly right. That’s what we gotta have.” Mrs. Clinton laughed nervously, but seemed to go with it, the network said. “I do think I have fortitude. Women can have it as well as men,” Mrs. Clinton said to cheers after thanking Mr. Gipson.

MOVEON.ORG LAUNCHES ANTI-MCCAIN AD

The left-wing group MoveOn.org is joining the Democratic National Committee in targeting Senator McCain’s support for the Iraq war in a new television ad. The 30-second spot quotes Mr. McCain as suggesting the American people would support maintaining an Iraq presence for 100 years, and it concludes with a narrator saying: “100 years in Iraq? And you thought no one could be worse than George Bush.” The ad, which will run in Iowa and New Mexico, is timed for the fifth anniversary of the day when President Bush appeared on an aircraft carrier underneath a banner reading “Mission Accomplished” to declare that major combat missions in Iraq had ended. MoveOn.org has endorsed Senator Obama.